3 Munks and a Baby
by Turtlegirl5
Summary: The three brothers find a little surprise bundle on their door step one night while Dave's away. The boys must struggle in taking on one of the hardest challenges they have ever faced. With a little help from the Chipettes of course.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! I actually wrote this story about a year ago and then got side-tracked and didn't finish it so. Here it is now. I'm going to try to put up the 1 chapter each day since this whole thing is pre-written. **

**CGI Chipmunks!**

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Chapter 1

Dave Seville pulled into his driveway anxious to tell his boys about the excellent news on the new record deal. He was also anxious just to see them. It was the first time he had left them home alone and he had been nervous, but hopeful as to how they would do. He nodded his head as he examined the house from the outside.

The whole house was still there. No smoke, no fires, no explosions. All good. However, what would be inside was probably a whole other story.

Dave opened the front door and walked in. He called, "Fellas! I'm home!" He looked around. He was surprised. Normally he would see his youngest come running towards him ready to climb up his jacket and give him a hug with the other two right behind him.

"Guys?" Dave said a little softer this time. It was noon. What was going on? Dave continued his way into the house. He stepped into the living room; it was moderately messy, but not too bad. The kitchen on the other hand was a complete wreck. There were pots, pans, bowls, mugs, and spilled milk everywhere. Not to mention all the empty bags of cheese balls scattered across the dining table.

Dave was even more surprised to find his chipmunks asleep on the couch. They never took naps. They would usually be wide-awake at this hour. Dave smiled at the cute sight. The Chipmunks were all cuddled together in the middle of the sofa. Light snores leaving their mouths. The four of them looked quite content and peaceful. Wait! _Four!?_

What was this? Alvin on the left, Simon on the right, Theodore in between them, but what was this laying curled up in Theodore's lap?

Dave was starting to feel a little sweaty as he took a better look at this thing. It was small and furry- a chipmunk. Yep. A _baby_ chipmunk. A huge wave of confusion and worry swept over Dave. He didn't know what to think of this. Before he could do anything else he said in a loud voice, "Alvin! Simon! Theodore!"

The three chipmunks' heads shot up, startled at the sound of Dave's booming voice. They looked around, eyes wide and alert. They then all looked up and smiled. He then noticed that the four of them were covered in a black dust. It was pretty obvious, but he had been so transfixed on the baby, he didn't notice. There were even a few black tracks all across the floor coming from the fireplace.

"Dave! You're home!" Alvin cried.

"We missed you, Dave!" Theodore exclaimed cheerfully. Dave kind of choked on his words as he tried to greet them warmly for having been gone for about four days.

"I missed you guys too! But…" The three chipmunks' smiles faded immediately as Dave's tone changed. Dave tried to sound calm, but he seemed kind of uneasy as he continued, "Uh… what's that you got there?" he pointed to the bundle in Theodore's lap. The chipmunks' ears all went back. Theodore picked up the bundle and dropped it into Simon's arms who then quickly reached over and dropped it into Alvin's arms.

Alvin bit his lip and said, "Uh… Dave? Meet the newest Seville." Dave's eyes widened a bit, still as confused as ever.

Simon jumped up and cried, "Dave! I can- we can explain everything!"

"Please do! So whose baby is this?" Dave said.

Each chipmunk looked at one another.

"We-" Alvin started, but Dave interrupted him, "Look! Just please start explaining."

Dave put his face in his hand as he wiped the sweat off of his forehead.

Simon began, "Okay. I guess we might as well start on the night where it all began."

Dave felt more sweat forming. He was going to say something, but didn't.

"Get comfy, Dave. It's kind of a long story," Theodore said patting Dave's knee delicately with his paw.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_-Flashback-_

It was the chipmunks' first night home alone. Dave had just left a few hours ago. He told them that he was putting all his trust in them and to prove to him that they can handle being home by themselves. Claire was visiting relatives and Miss Miller and the Chipettes were to be leaving on vacation in a couple of days.

Alvin was sitting on the coffee table with his thumbs twiddling away at a video game controller. He stuck his tongue out as he twisted and turned his body around.

"To the left! Jump! Oh yeah! He's gonna get it now!" Alvin cried.

"We don't need the commentary, Alvin," Simon muttered as he continued tweaking with a toy rocket he had been working on for the past month. He was anxious to finish it so he could test it out and launch it in the back yard.

"Oh! Boo-yah! I win again! In your faces!" Alvin screamed as he jumped up and down in excitement.

Theodore toddled out of the kitchen, dragging a bag of cheese balls behind him. He hopped onto the coffee table next to Alvin.

"Oh yeah!" Alvin said as he opened the bag and took out a cheese ball. He held it up with pride and he said, "Here's to me! Monster Truck Mania champion!" Theodore held up a cheese ball too and they toasted their cheese balls as if they were glasses of champagne.

They then began to chow down on them, getting cheese powder all across their lips. Simon hopped off of the desk he was working at to join his brothers in their little cheese ball party.

"So how's that rocket of yours coming along, bro?" Alvin asked cheerfully.

"Very well actually. I should be able to launch it any day now I hope. You see, if I add some sodium to the fuel along with a dash of-"

"You lost me after 'I'," Alvin said.

Simon shook his head and ate a cheese ball.

Alvin laid down casually on top of a dry washcloth that was sitting on the table. He put his paws behind his head.

Theodore said, "I'm anxious to find out what's going to happen with this record deal. This is huge! If Dave is able to convince these guys to get us in, we're going to be even bigger than we are now!"

Alvin replied, "Oh yeah. I'm sure he'll be able to. I mean who would pass up singing chipmunks?"

It was silent for a few seconds until Alvin said, "You know, I'm really glad that Dave's able to trust us now to stay home by ourselves. I know he's nervous, but he's really got nothing to worry about."

"I have to admit, freedom is a very nice privilege. We just have to use it wisely and be able to keep his trust in us," Simon agreed.

"Dave has nothing to worry about. We can handle anything!" Alvin said.

It was silent again. All was calm and cool. Suddenly the three chipmunks' ears perked up to the three rings of their doorbell, followed by a series of knocks. They looked at the clock. 9:27pm.

"Who would be knocking at our door at this hour?" Simon questioned.

"Ah… Probably just some fan or press," Alvin said hopping off the table. "But if it's the Chipettes playing some sort of prank on us, I'm going to say something!"

Alvin scurried over to the window next to the front door with his brothers right behind him. He pushed back the blinds a little while turning on the outside light. There was no one standing there. Alvin jumped off of the windowsill and grabbed hold of the doorknob, turning and opening it.

He was beginning to feel a little nervous as he opened it just a crack. His fingers slipped gingerly in between the crack and then pulled the door open some more.

His brown eyes widened a bit at the sight of a small basket sitting on their welcome mat. Simon and Theodore's heads appeared over his shoulder.

"A basket?" Simon said.

Alvin pulled the door open some more and skittered over to the basket, searching it.

"There's no card, so I don't know whom it's from or anything," he said. The other two came out from the doorway and joined him, examining the mysterious package.

"Do you think its full of sweets and goodies?" Theodore asked excitedly.

"If it is, I wouldn't eat 'em. We don't know who it's from," Simon said.

Alvin looked inside the basket. There was a blanket over the opening.

"Do we dare?" Alvin asked though his paw was already reaching over to pull the cover off of it.

"What if it's a prank? What if some sort of scary clown pops out or something?" Theodore said.

"That doesn't make any sense. If something were to pop out, it would be in one of those 'contents under pressure' type things. Not a basket with a blanket over it," Simon said.

"Well, we'll never know until we look," Alvin said his fingers now curled around the edge of the white blanket. He carefully pulled the blanket uncovering what was inside. The three chipmunks peered in. Inside this basket was a few more blankets and buried under one of them was a very petite-sized lump. It was smaller than they were. The lump was moving up and down ever so slightly.

"I don't think that's a muffin," Alvin murmured. The three pairs of eyes that stared inside the basket were all huge and not blinking at all.

Alvin took his index finger and lightly pulled the top blanket off of the tiny lump just enough for the boys to be able to tell what it was.

"It's not…" Simon began.

"It is…" Theodore breathed.

A very fuzzy, small head with tiny ears on top peeked out from under the lilac blanket. Alvin dared himself to pull the blanket down a little more revealing its full head. A baby chipmunk lay sound asleep in front of them. It's pink nose wiggled as it inhaled the evening air. Its fur was a soft amber color. It was lighter than Alvin's fur, but darker than Theodore's.

The boys just stood there frozen, staring at the baby chipmunk as if it was an alien brought down from outer space. They didn't know why they were so awestruck by this. It was just a baby chipmunk. They had all been baby chipmunks before themselves. But why was it left here? Left for them?

Once Alvin got his voice back, he blinked several times.

"Whoa… this… this can't be!"

"Where are its mom and dad?" Theodore asked.

Simon said, "That's a very good question, Theo. It only looks to be about a day old. The parents aren't supposed to leave it until a week after its born. But what gets me is that no wild chipmunk would have access to a basket or blankets."

"Why would someone want to leave it _here_?" Theodore asked.

Alvin replied, "Maybe people are believing that Dave is the guy who takes in chipmunks."

"Maybe it fell out of the sky! Maybe Dave ordered the stork to come and leave this baby chipmunk here!" Theodore said.

Simon sighed and put his paw on his youngest brother's shoulder, "We need to have a talk, Theodore."

"Guys! What are we supposed to do about this?" Alvin asked.

"We need to wait for Dave to get back. He'll know what to do!" Theodore suggested.

"But we can't just leave it out here! It's a baby!" Simon exclaimed.

"Look, we'll take it in for now and call Dave in the morning," Alvin said.

Theodore put in, "But if we call Dave, he's going to rush right over here. We can't do that. He's at the most important meeting of his life! It could mess things up for our career and for him! I don't want to do that to him."

Alvin frowned and said, "He's right. We are going to have to do this on our own."

"Well, Dave is expecting us to show that we're responsible and that we can handle whatever comes our way, so this is as good a time as any I suppose," Simon said.

The three turned back to the small, infant chipmunk. They stared at it for a few seconds.

"So who's going to bring it in? C'mon. We can't carry this whole basket in with us," Alvin said.

Each chipmunk looked at one another.

"Oh…" Simon groaned and slowly and cautiously lowered his arms down into the basket. He scooped up the small bundle along with the lilac blanket that was over it and rested it in his arms.

It felt odd. To have something so delicate, small, and soft stirring a bit in his arms. Simon looked completely uneasy holding it. Alvin and Theodore were afraid he was going to pass out for a moment. Simon took a deep breath and carried the baby into the house. Alvin closed the door behind them and locked the door. He flipped the outside light off and followed Simon and Theodore into the living room.

"This is just temporary, guys," Simon said softly, "Maybe if we find its parents we-"

Theodore stopped him and said, "Simon, I don't think we are going to find the parents. It was purposely left there for us."

"You're… right…" Simon responded.

"Well then…" Alvin began while patting the baby gently on the top of the head, "welcome to the Sevilles."


	3. Chapter 3

**Yes. I put up two new chapters.**

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Chapter 3

The three boys had no idea what to do with the newcomer. Theodore brought in the basket from outside. They set the baby inside and let it sleep there for the night. The three brothers decided to spend the night in the living room chair with the basket sitting on the coffee table in front of them.

The chipmunks were a little afraid to fall asleep at first, afraid to take their eyes off of the basket, but they did eventually. At about midnight, however, they all awoke to some small whimpering coming from the basket.

Simon turned on the lamp and the three rushed over, huddling around the basket.

"Don't cry! Don't cry!" Theodore tried. He reached in and pulled the baby into his arms. He tried rocking it a little.

"What do I do!?" Theodore cried over the now loud cries of the baby chipmunk.

"I don't know! Do something!" Alvin shouted grabbing his ears at the shrieks.

Simon held out his arms and said, "Here! Let me try." Theodore handed the bundle over. Simon improvised, "Rock a-bye baby…"

Simon seemed rushed in singing it so it didn't sound very sweet. Alvin cried, "What kind of lullaby is that!? Just what every baby wants to hear about falling out of a tree!"

"Here, you try something," Simon said handing the baby back over to Theodore.

Theodore's ears went back at the wailing bundle in his arms.

"Um… Christmas, Christmas time is near…" It was no use. The baby continued to cry and carry on.

Theodore and Simon kept trading the baby back and forth. Alvin stood up, "Why won't you guys let me try?"

Simon, who now had the infant in his arms, said, "Because I'm afraid _you're_ going to drop the baby on its head."

Alvin gave him a funny look like it was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard. He said, "Are you kidding me!? I'm not going to drop it on its head! Just give it to me!"

Simon hesitated at first, but reluctantly handed the chipmunk over to his brother.

Alvin was surprised at how light it was. He began bouncing the baby a bit. Then, he bounced it a little out of his paws. Then, he tossed it up a little and then, a little higher.

"What on earth are you doing!?" Simon exclaimed. He and Theodore looked terrified as they watched Alvin toss the baby in the air.

"You don't throw babies!" Theodore cried. To both of their dismays, the baby was actually giggling. The crying had slowly changed to laughter as Alvin continued to bounce the baby up and down. Not so much throwing it in the air, just a bit of bouncing.

Both Simon and Theodore's jaws dropped. Alvin smiled. Okay, he had to admit this was cute. Now that it was wide-awake, they could see that its eyes were an extremely dark, rich brown.

Alvin finally stopped and just held the baby securely in his arms. It stared up at him happily.

Alvin then tucked the baby back into the basket. He grinned smugly towards his dumb-founded brothers.

"And you thought I'd drop it," Alvin said.

Simon grabbed his chest and gasped, "Please! Don't do that again! You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"What? The baby did enjoy it," Alvin said.

"What ever possessed you to start throwing it in the air like that?" Simon asked.

"I don't know. I just vaguely remember our dad doing that to me when I was little. You two didn't like it, but _I_ loved it! It was fun!" Alvin said.

"Well, glad that's over," Theodore mumbled looking at the chipmunk in the basket. It was now drifting back to sleep. A small snot bubble blew out of its nose and then silently popped.

The three retreated back to the chair, turned the lamp off, and went back to sleep.

XXXXX

It was 6:00am and the boys awoke to yet more crying from the new baby chipmunk. Once they were up, they felt that they were up for good now. Alvin didn't toss the baby around again this time. The three tried singing to the baby, but it didn't work so well.

"Maybe it's hungry," Theodore said.

"I don't know. Make breakfast then," Alvin said crankily. He was not a morning person.

Theodore didn't know what to make for a baby. He popped some toaster waffles in the toaster and waited. He soon brought out a plate of waffles to the coffee table. Alvin set the baby in his lap. Theodore broke off a very tiny piece of the waffle and held it up to the baby's mouth. The baby stopped crying for a moment. Its nose wiggled back and forth a bit, sniffing the bit of waffle in front of it. It made a face at it.

Theodore looked shocked.

"You don't like toaster waffles? They're delicious!" Theodore took a bite out of one of them and said with his mouth full, "See? Yum! Yum!"

The baby showed no interest.

"Maybe we need something more… natural. Try fruit maybe," Simon suggested.

Theodore ate the rest of the waffles and ran into the kitchen. He brought out a baby banana. He peeled it and broke off the tip. He put it towards the baby's nose. The baby sniffed it again and took very small nibbles out of it.

The boys let out a sigh of relief.

"Finally! Peace and quiet!" Alvin gasped.

Theodore said, "Guys. I don't know if we can handle this on our own."

"But, Theo, we have to. For Dave's sake," Alvin said softly.

"I know, but I don't know how we're supposed to do this. We don't know anything about babies. We would need like a dozen more paws!" Theodore replied.

Just then an idea occurred to all three of them at once.

Alvin started, "You don't think the girls would know anything about babies do you?"

Simon answered, "Well, I don't think they would know any more than we do, but we could use the extra hands around here."

"Call them!" Alvin and Theodore cried in unison.

"But tell them not to tell Miss Miller. Because if they tell Miss Miller, she's bound to call Dave and we can't let that happen!" Alvin added.

Simon quickly dialed the Chipettes' number. Theodore continued to feed the baby, who was still in Alvin's lap, more pieces of banana.

Simon explained the whole story to the girls. A few times, Alvin and Theodore could hear Brittany on the other end shriek, "What!?" and "Are you serious!?"

Simon hung up and hopped up onto the coffee table.

"They said they would be right over," Simon said.

"Oh thank god!" Alvin exclaimed.

After a few more bites of the banana, the baby didn't want anymore and it began to cry again. The boys let out an aggravated groan.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The three boys paced back and forth. The baby, wrapped in its blanket, was now in the arms of Theodore, who was failing in his attempts to calm it down.

"Where are those girls!?" Alvin cried.

Just then, right on cue, they heard a tapping at the window by the front door. They peered out it to see the three Chipettes standing on the window ledge. They waved. Alvin immediately sprang to the door and let them in.

The girls rushed into the living room.

"Omigod! You three really do have a baby!" Brittany exclaimed.

"What? You didn't believe us?" Alvin asked in disbelief as he trailed along behind them.

"Well, I wasn't sure. At first I thought there was no way, but when it was Simon on the phone and not you, I had a feeling this could be true," Brittany explained.

Eleanor and Jeanette ran up to Theodore and stared adoringly at the baby in his arms despite the small cries. Though it seemed to be settling a little. It seemed to like the attention.

"Awww! It's so precious!" Eleanor gasped.

"So you just found it on your doorstep?" Jeanette asked.

"Yep. We still don't know who left it there," Alvin said.

"Can I hold it?" Eleanor asked. Theodore nodded and seemed relieved to be handing it over to someone else. Once the baby reached Eleanor's arms, the crying came to an end and it giggled up at her.

"Wow! Maybe he just wanted more attention," Brittany said standing next to her sister. She rested her elbow on Eleanor's shoulder coolly and smiled down at the bundle.

Eleanor, still not taking her eyes off of the little ball of sunshine in her arms, asked, "So what's its sex?"

"What!?" the boys asked simultaneously giving her an odd look.

Eleanor looked up from the baby to them, "Is it a boy or a girl?"

Alvin, Simon, and Theodore just blinked giving her quite blank expressions. Their lips twisted in confusion.

Brittany slapped a paw over her eyes. She cried, "Oh my god, you guys! You mean that you're trying to take in this baby and you didn't even bother to check to see if it was a boy or a girl?"

"Uh…" Alvin began, but he was cut off when Brittany gasped, "Ugh! You three really _do_ need all the help you can get." Brittany took the baby into her arms.

"Mmm… So you'll take this baby off our paws?" Alvin asked pushing himself forward.

Brittany's head shot around to look at him as she let out a surprisingly shrill, "No!"

"Well, by take it off our paws, I mean, like help us with it," Alvin said.

Brittany replied, "Uh, where have you been for the past billion years? We're going on vacation tomorrow! We can't." Eleanor pulled the blanket back some that was around the baby.

"Oh, but you've gotta help us!" Theodore begged.

Jeanette said, "Well, we'll try our best to help you guys just for today, but after that, you're on your own."

"Oh thank you guys so much!" Simon gasped.

Eleanor looked up from the baby and announced cheerfully, "It's a boy!"

"What!?" the Chipmunks asked in unison again with the confused looks on their faces.

"Looks like you've got another brother, boys," Jeanette said with a smile.

Alvin thought this over and he whispered to himself, "A _fourth_ chipmunk brother?"

Brittany said, "See? You _four_ can form a lovely quartet now."

"_Quartet_?" the three boys asked in unison. The idea never occurred to them that having this new sibling could possibly make a big change in their music careers. They suddenly had a weird image appear in their minds. It showed the three of them all dressed in red and white, vertical stripes with hats and fake mustaches. Along with the baby, but an older version of the baby, all grouped together singing. Simon was singing the low notes, Theodore the high notes, Alvin singing the lead, and the newest member of their group, singing the harmony.

The little thought bubble disappeared and the three all exchanged unsure looks. Alvin looked the worst. He wasn't so sure how he would go about accepting this big change. It's always been three. Never more, never less. Could this baby change their lives forever?

The Chipettes seemed to notice their expressions. Brittany forced a laugh, "Don't look so unhappy about it. Be fortunate that it's a boy. I mean, if it was a girl then you three would probably feel _really_ messed up."

The boys began to imagine what their music group would be like if the baby was a girl, but they quickly stopped. They didn't even want to think about that.

Jeanette asked, "So what are you going to name _him_?"

"We don't know," Alvin mumbled.

"Well, you can't just keep calling him, 'the baby'. He needs a real name," Brittany said.

Simon and Theodore snapped out of their uncertainty. They would be able to adjust. No problem. Just one more brother in the band wouldn't be so bad. However, Alvin wasn't feeling very keen on the whole idea. He would be fine with the baby as long as it didn't interfere with their band.

Alvin tried to shake it off and joined in on the conversation, "I say we call him Alvin Junior!"

"Alvin, you can't name him after yourself when he's your brother," Simon said.

Alvin made a face and mocked, "'Alvin, You can't name him after yourself when he's your brother.' Give me a break, Simon. Like you've got any better ideas."

Everyone looked at the baby again.

"We'll think on it," Simon said.

"Well, while we're on the subject of names, I think that we're going to have to start… you know… 'babying' _our_ names," Eleanor advised.

The boys all let out yet another simultaneous, "What?"

"Well, you don't expect him to be trying to learn a name like, 'Theodore' right away do you?" Brittany said.

Eleanor continued, "It's easier for a baby to learn names that end with the 'ee' sound. For example, Brittany wouldn't have to change her name, but I would have to start going by Ellie. And Jeanette would be Jeannie."

"Oh, I get it!" Theodore said, "So I'll let him call me Teddy."

Brittany said, "Right. And Alvin, you can be Alvie. And Si-mon-n-n…" Brittany stretched out Simon's name kind of playing with the sound. "You're out of luck, Si. I don't think we can 'baby' up your name."

Simon waved his paw and said, "I don't care. I actually didn't really want my name to be 'babied'. Besides, it's only two syllables. He can even call me 'Si' for all I care."

Jeanette looked up in thought and then suggested, "How about 'Bubby'?"

"Excuse me?" Simon replied.

"Yeah. You know for sister it's 'Sissy' and for brother it's 'Bubby' well until the baby is able to pronounce their sibling's name."

Alvin laughed out loud and put his paw on Simon's shoulder to keep him from falling over with laughter. He said, "Oh! Bubby! That's good. Can _I_ start calling you that?"

"No," Simon answered flatly.

"Too bad. I'm going to start calling you that… Bubby," Alvin said with a grin. Simon rolled his eyes and said, "It doesn't matter. He can call me that, but I will refuse to refer to myself as that."

Jeanette said, "Well, good. We won't dwell on our names too much. Let's just make sure that he knows you guys."

Just then, the baby began to cry again.

"It's gonna be a _long_ morning," Alvin muttered.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Brittany sat in the middle of the sofa with the still crying baby in her arms. She instructed Theodore and Eleanor to go through recipe books and cook something that the baby would be able to eat. She directed Simon and Jeanette to go around baby-proofing the house.

Alvin grabbed his ears in pain and shouted over the wailing, "Make it stop! Make it stop! Make it stop!"

Brittany continually rocked the little chipmunk. It was no use. She said loudly over the cries, "Try singing something!"

"Like what!?" Alvin called back.

"I don't know! Anything!"

Alvin hopped up onto the sofa and began singing:

_It's been a long time, been a long time-_

Brittany stopped him with, "Are you crazy!? That's like hard rock! You don't sing hard rock to a baby!"

"Well, you don't rock a baby hard! Stop shaking it! I'm sure he feels like he's in the middle of an earthquake, you're rocking him so hard!" Brittany didn't notice that she really was rocking the baby pretty frantically. She slowed down her arms, but the baby still carried on.

"Alvin, get your guitar!" Brittany ordered.

Alvin immediately dashed upstairs and brought down his cherry red electric guitar. He hopped back onto the sofa. Brittany wrinkled her nose a bit in disapproval.

"Go get a _real_ guitar!"

"This _is_ a _real_ guitar!"

"One that doesn't need an amplifier!"

"But that one stinks!"

"So do you, but you don't hear me complaining!"

Alvin let out an aggravated growl and ran back upstairs. He brought down a light brown, simple acoustic guitar.

He began to strum it. After just a few chords, one of the strings snapped.

"Aw nuts!" Alvin cursed. "I told you this guitar stinks! Can't I just sing something?"

"Sure. But sing something that doesn't involve yelling, screaming, rapping, beat boxing, or anything that would make you want to crowd surf!"

Alvin looked at her as if she was crazy and said, "What!? That leaves me with nothing! If you're such the expert on this, why don't you sing something!?"

"He's _your_ brother! Go play some other instrument then, like the piano!"

Alvin, ignoring the lame excuse said, "Um- I don't think my fingers stretch far enough for that!"

Just then, Simon and Theodore rushed into the room overhearing the conversation.

"We'll help you! Anything to stop the crying!" Simon cried.

The three jumped up onto the piano. They flipped through some sheet music and then placed a random one on the book holder.

Theodore went down to the lower notes and Alvin and Simon shared some of the higher ones. Between the three of them, they would be able to play just the same as two human hands.

Theodore started dancing on the keys. His paws were moving along in a very perky happy way to the rhythm.

Alvin and Simon joined in.

They were playing the "Peanuts" theme song.

The baby's crying slowly died down, but he didn't giggle or anything. He just observed his brothers dancing across the piano.

Brittany smiled and snuggled the chipmunk in her arms. Eleanor and Jeanette rushed into the living room to see what had ceased the crying. The girls couldn't help, but feel a little jig forming in themselves to the song.

"Isn't that the song from that cartoon?" Eleanor asked.

"Yeah. The 'Peanuts'," Theodore panted as he continued to dance along the keys.

"The 'Peanuts'?" Brittany questioned.

Jeanette said, "Yeah. You know. With Charlie Brown."

"Oh yeah! Just like the dance move," Brittany said.

"Charlie!" Theodore shouted surprisingly loud. He made his brothers on the piano jump and they fell onto the keys ending the song with a bitter combination of notes.

"Whoa! What are you all excited about?" Alvin asked. Theodore had a huge smile on his face. He said, "We'll name him Charlie! Charlie Seville!"

"Why Charlie?" Simon asked.

"I don't know. He just kind of looks like a Charlie to me," Theodore said bounding over to his little brother.

The other two followed him and they all took a good long look at the furry bundle in Brittany's warm grasp.

"You know what? He kind of does," Jeanette agreed.

"I like it," Eleanor said.

"Me too," Simon added.

Alvin said, "Alright then. It's settled. Our little brother, Charlie Seville! I like the sound of it!"

Eleanor and Theodore retreated back to the kitchen and Simon and Jeanette went around covering up electrical outlets with the plastic covers.

Alvin sat next to Brittany who set Charlie in his arms.

"Do you think he liked the song?" Alvin asked.

"I would think so. He did stop crying," Brittany replied, "Though he didn't react much."

"He'll be able to feel the beat soon I'm sure. I mean with us as his family, how can he not?"

Brittany tickled Charlie's tummy and smiled making little cooing noises. Alvin had never seen this "motherly" side of Brittany before and it almost frightened him.

Brittany asked Charlie, "Can you say, 'Alvie'?"

Charlie looked up at her with his shiny dark brown eyes curiously. Brittany pointed to Alvin and said, "That's your brother, Alvie. Alvie."

Eleanor called from the kitchen, "Food's almost ready!"

Brittany hopped off the sofa and ran into the kitchen. Alvin, feeling kind of funny being alone with the baby followed her.

"So what's for brunch?" Alvin asked.

"Um… well, it's not really a meal. We wanted to make something that the baby could eat. So we used pudding mix and made our own lemon pudding with nuts sprinkled on top. A choice of almonds, peanuts, or walnuts," Theodore said.

Eleanor put in, "You see, we needed something soft, but he also needs nuts to help keep those little buck teeth he's growing in strong. But maybe we'll hold off on the nuts for now. Just until his teeth are grown in some more."

Jeanette and Simon walked in joining the party.

"Oh yea," Jeanette started, "When it comes to baby chipmunks, expect a lot of teething. Plus, they like to climb _everything_. You cannot take your eyes off him for a second. It usually only lasts the first week."

Eleanor said, "Yeah. This baby stuff shouldn't be so bad. I mean after a week he'll at least get his independence. You won't need to be constantly on your feet. He'll probably be walking soon. Talking should come later in the week."

Theodore took the wooden spoon out of the mixing bowl- his favorite part- and stuck his tongue out, but just before his tongue touched it, he looked at Charlie and said, "Here, Charlie. You can lick the spoon."

He jumped off of the counter and onto the dinner table that Alvin was sitting on with Charlie in his arms. Theodore held the spoon over the baby who then grabbed the neck of the spoon and licked up the extra pudding in two seconds flat.

"Wow! He must be hungry," Eleanor commented. She then brought out some bowls and filled them with the pudding and nuts.

She laid them out on the table for everyone giving Charlie the smallest bowl. Everyone was shocked when just after a minute and a half Charlie was licking up the rest of the pudding sticking to the inside of the bowl.

Theodore gave Charlie another bowl of pudding to eat. During their brunch, the topic was mainly on baby chipmunks of course.

Simon said, "We don't know what to expect this little guy to be like. I mean it's not like we share the same gene pool. He could be the complete opposite of the three of us."

Jeanette explained, "Well, you guys still need to set good examples. I mean how you act around him now can have a good influence on his behavior, as he gets older. In other words, it's not like he's going to have the same traits as you guys personality wise, but you can have an effect on his behavior and mannerisms."

Alvin asked curiously, "So how do you ladies know all this stuff?"

Brittany answered simply, "We're girls! We know everything."

"Fair enough," Simon said as he stopped Charlie from trying to stick a toothpick up his nose.

Everyone watched the little chipmunk contently.

"Just think, before you know it he'll be up on stage with you guys singing his little heart out," Brittany said.

Alvin frowned and murmured, "Yeah. One day at a time, now."

The rest of the day was pretty much spent trying to keep Charlie from crying and as entertained as possible. It sure wiped the six of them out. The worst was the few "accidents" throughout the day.

They were all sitting on the sofa passing the crying baby around. It turned into a game of hot potato. They had all tried singing to it, but it didn't really work.

Alvin whined, "Oh how did our parents do it!? There were three of us and only two of them! Now the six of us are taking care of one baby and we can't take it!"

"Maybe that's why they left early," Theodore said.

Jeanette had Charlie in her arms now.

Brittany shouted over the crying, "Give him to me!" Jeanette did so. Brittany said, "I think that he needs a nap."

"How do you know!?" Alvin called over the wails.

"It's… instinct!" Brittany replied.

Jeanette informed, "But, Brittany, our parental instincts aren't supposed to develop until adulthood."

Brittany made a face and mocked, "'But, Brittany, our parental instincts aren't supposed to develop until adulthood.' Give me a break, Jeanette."

Simon leaned over to Alvin and said, "Wow. You two are soul mates."

Alvin narrowed his eyes at his brother and grumbled, "Shut up, Bubby."

It turned out that Brittany was right. They had tucked Charlie into the basket and tried to talk to him gently. Eventually, he did fall asleep. The chipmunks all wanted to collapse after that.

About ten minutes later, Miss Miller came knocking at the door.

"Girls!" she called. The six chipmunks jumped and ran to greet her afraid that she would wake the baby, however they still couldn't tell her about it.

"Miss Miller!" Brittany exclaimed as loudly as she could.

"Are you ready to go girls? You've been over here all day. I'm making dinner, so I figured I ought to come get you now."

"Okay," Eleanor said quietly, "But can you be quiet?"

"Why?" Miss Miller asked in a rather booming voice.

"Uh…" Jeanette improvised, "Because the boys are… meditating!"

"They are?" Miss Miller asked looking around the floor in search of the chipmunks. Alvin, Simon, and Theodore quickly folded their legs, closed their eyes, and made humming noises to cover for Jeanette.

Brittany and Eleanor turned to their sister and gave her a strange look as they mouthed, "Meditating? Really?"

Jeanette shrugged.

Brittany put in, "Yeah. You don't want to disturb them when they're in deep concentration."

"Oh. I'm so sorry," Miss Miller whispered, "Let's go then, girls."

Once Miss Miller turned around, the girls quickly ran over to the three boys. Eleanor whispered, "If you need advice or anything just call Miss Miller's cell phone and tell her you want to talk to us!

"No time after 9:00pm or before 7:30am got it?" Brittany put in.

"Good luck, guys. Give Charlie a big kiss from all of us," Jeanette said.

The three Chipettes then dashed out of the house following Miss Miller.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Over the course of the day, the Chipettes had been observing how the three boys were handling this newcomer. They were afraid that Simon would be to "science-y" for the job, and Theodore would be jealous due to the fact that he wasn't the baby of the family anymore. They were pleasantly surprised that they seemed to be handling it quite well. Alvin on the other hand, whom they thought wouldn't care one way or the other, seemed to be bothered the most by the baby. It only seemed to be when the subject was brought up about him joining their band. They hoped that Alvin would change his mind. It would be an enormous change for the brothers, but they had to take on whatever came their way.

Charlie slept for a long while, but woke up just in time for dinner. The chipmunks were amazed at how much and how fast the little guy was eating. This made Theodore a bit happy.

"Do you think that Charlie will pick up my love of cooking?"

"I don't know, Theodore. We have no way of knowing," Simon said.

The boys all tucked Charlie into the basket. However, Charlie didn't seem ready to go to sleep just yet. If anything, he wanted to play. He looked up at his three big brothers with a huge smile across his face. They were surprised to find themselves tickling and playing with the little guy for a while.

"I think Charlie will make a great addition to the group," Theodore stated.

"Yeah. We'll need to start teaching him to play musical instruments soon," Simon agreed.

Alvin's smile faded some and he said, "Guys? Do we really _need_ another chipmunk in the group?"

"Well, we don't _need_ one, but it's not like it would hurt anything. Besides, that would be so exclusive of us if we were to leave him out," Simon said.

Alvin looked at Simon and Theodore with a serious expression on his face and said, "But… think about the age gap between him and us. Wouldn't it be weird?"

Alvin was using this as an excuse; he had many more reasons why he didn't want to have this fourth chipmunk in their band. It was mainly the fact that he wasn't one to accept this kind of change.

"No," Simon and Theodore answered in unison.

Theodore said, "I know, Alvin. This is a really, really big adjustment, but there's nothing we can do about it. We'll just have to learn to live with it."

"Oh, I guess," Alvin sighed. Charlie looked up happily at each one of their faces and he then pulled Simon's glasses off.

Normally, Simon hated it when someone would do that. He found it annoying and felt helpless without them, but he found himself laughing at it.

Charlie put one of the ear hooks in his mouth and began nibbling on it. He then tried to put them on. The one lens took up about half of his face, which made the three chipmunks all laugh. This made Alvin say, "Gee, I hope that he doesn't turn into a know-it-all like you, Bubby."

Simon didn't answer that. He instead said as sweetly as possible, "Okay, Charlie. Can I have my glasses back?" Charlie hugged Simon's glasses tightly.

Simon looked around the table and spotted a small plastic fast-food toy of a squirrel. He picked it up and showed it to Charlie. He said, "Here, I'll give you this squirrel if you give me my glasses. A nice trade."

Simon felt hopeful when Charlie took the toy from him. Charlie then hit Simon hard in the nose with the toy instead and laughed. Simon grabbed his nose and winced in pain.

Alvin laughed, "Oh I think I can learn to like this kid." Simon glared at Alvin and said, "I hope that he doesn't turn out to be obnoxious like you." He then turned back to Charlie and said, "It's okay. You can keep them."

The three moved away from the basket and walked across the coffee table.

"But, Simon. You can't see a thing without your glasses," Theodore said.

"Don't worry, Theodore. I'll be fine. I can live without them for awhile," Simon said.

Alvin whispered to Theodore, "He says to the table lamp." The two giggled. Yes, Simon was speaking to a lamp on the table and didn't even realize it. Fortunately, Theodore managed to trade Charlie his favorite plush teddy bear for Simon's glasses back before Simon could walk into another table leg.

After Alvin, Simon, and Theodore got themselves ready for bed (sofa in this case), they tried singing to Charlie to get him to fall asleep. It wasn't a success. Charlie seemed to enjoy it, but it didn't make him at all tired. That's when Simon came up with a new idea. He decided to read to Charlie. He wanted to read one of his picture-less novels to him, but Theodore told him to read, "The Little Engine that Could". Simon didn't seem very keen on reading something with talking trains and such illogical happenings, but he simply went with it.

Simon sat on the edge of the coffee table next to Charlie's basket with Alvin and Theodore sitting on the sofa in front of him. Theodore made sure that Simon would show them all the pictures after each pair of pages he read. It seemed like Charlie wasn't the only one Simon was reading to for Theodore and Alvin seemed to be getting into the story too even though they had heard this tale many times before. All three of the chipmunks that were being read to seemed intrigued with the colorful illustrations on each page.

Alvin felt a little silly lying there on the couch with his brother reading to him, but after the first page, he didn't seem to care.

The book did the trick. Charlie had fallen fast asleep at the last, "I thought I could" from the story.

Theodore whispered, "Should we give him that kiss from the Chipettes?"

"What?" Alvin and Simon asked simultaneously.

Alvin said, "Why? That's just weird! I'm not doing that."

"Then I'll do it," Theodore said confidently. He bent over and gave Charlie a quick kiss on the forehead.

The boys then tucked themselves in on the sofa and went right to sleep. Some time during the night Charlie woke up crying again and it was becoming a routine that the boys would first sing to calm him down then read to him to get him back to sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks so much for all your reviews guys! And sorry that I haven't updated in awhile. Stuff's been kinda busy here. Read and review! :)**

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Chapter 7

The next two days were pretty plain. Nothing really big happened. Charlie's buckteeth were already in so Theodore put more nuts in his pudding lunch. The baby never seemed to be full just like Theodore. Lucky for the boys, he wasn't a picky eater. (Except for waffles ironically).

Potty training was another challenge since diapers weren't exactly an option.

At one point, Alvin called out, "Guys! Someone had an accident!" Simon and Theodore rushed out to where Alvin was. Simon picked up Charlie and said, "I'm going to give him a bath."

Theodore quickly said, "I'll help you!"

Alvin grunted, "I'm not cleaning it up!"

"Well, someone has to," Simon said. Alvin let out a low growl, "I'll get the paper towels."

During the next day, the boys tried teaching Charlie to like and eat toaster waffles. The first time, Theodore accidentally burned the waffles. The burnt smell filled the room.

"Whoops," Theodore mumbled.

Simon and Alvin coughed.

"Aw man!" Simon coughed, "Open the window, Theo!" Theodore ran to the living room window and pried it open as far much as he could. He managed to get it open just above his head, letting in the fresh air. The smoky smell soon vanished and Theodore went back over to the toaster, "Let's try that again."

Theodore made the waffles again (this time without burning them) and ripped them up into smaller pieces for Charlie. He attempted to feed them to him, but Charlie refused.

"C'mon, Charlie. They're really yummy," Theodore said sweetly as he wiggled a piece of waffle around Charlie's nose. The baby chipmunk simply wrinkled his nose and turned his head.

"Let's try the milk," Simon said. Alvin took out the milk carton and began pouring it in a cup.

"Alvin!" Theodore called.

"What?" Alvin asked turning his head.

"I'm bringing Charlie over to the counter with you!"

"Just give me a- whoa! Whoops…" Alvin said as he turned his head back just in time to watch the still-pouring milk overflow the little cup and pour all over the counter and then onto the floor.

"Well, no use crying over spilled milk. I'll just blame it on Simon," Alvin thought aloud. Theodore hopped over to the counter next to Alvin carrying the little plate of waffles. Simon carried Charlie over to the counter.

Charlie slurped up the milk faster than a dog drinking water after a long walk in the park. He splashed milk all over the place. A bit splashed onto the chipmunks surrounding him. They exhaled a breath of exhaustion. Who knew taking care of this baby would be so hard.

After breakfast, it turned out that Eleanor had been right about walking. It started as a toddle, but quickly picked up. Charlie was walking by himself in no time, though he still stumbled a lot. But what goes with walking is climbing.

Charlie was climbing everything- the curtains, the TV, the beds, the piano, the tables, his brothers- everything. It made up for any tree that he would've lived in. Now that Charlie could move around on his own more, the boys had to keep a really close eye on their baby brother. It was strange at first saying things like, "our baby brother" and they weren't referring to Theodore for a change. Whenever they could, the boys tried to start teaching Charlie to talk.

Alvin, wanting to be the first one to have his name said by the baby, sat Charlie down and pointed to himself saying, "Me Alvie. Can you say Alvie? Al-vie." It was no use. Alvin was just feeling silly sitting there saying that repeatedly. Theodore did the same thing saying things like, "Say Teddy, Charlie. Teddy." They even convinced a reluctant Simon to join in on the lesson. Theodore pointed to Simon and said, "That's Bubby. Can you say Bubby?" Still nothing.

It was about 3:00 in the afternoon and things had calmed a bit. Though the house was a complete mess, the boys managed to at least clean up the living room some. The kitchen was a whole other story. They were making a mess in trying to make food for the baby, but being so busy with him, they never got a chance to clean much of it up. The chipmunks were able to start doing what they wanted a little more though. Alvin got in the video game time he wanted, Theodore got time to himself to eat whatever, though Charlie had lately been beating Theodore to it.

Simon was out in the backyard setting up his miniature rocket ship. Theodore and Alvin walked outside, Charlie in Theodore's arms.

Theodore complained, "Aw, Charlie ate the last mini muffin!"

"Looks like you've got some competition, Teddy. Usually you're the one that finishes off the food packages," Alvin said.

"I know, but Charlie is still so tiny. I don't think he's gained much weight at all. He's going to have to teach me how he does that," Theodore said.

Simon said, though not taking his eyes off the rocket as he played around with it, "It's called a high metabolism, Theo. Some people like Charlie have very high ones where they can easily burn off calories. They can eat a whole pizza and still remain as thin as a twig. I believe that Jeanette has that also."

"Did Jeanette tell you that she has one?" Alvin questioned.

"No," Simon answered.

Alvin stifled a laugh and said, "Oh! So are you checking her out-"

"No!" Simon interrupted. Things were definitely starting to go back to normal around the Seville household. Alvin hadn't made a joke like that ever since the surprise on their doorstep arrived.

"I wish I had a high metabolism," Theodore said pathetically as he handed the baby over to Alvin and stretched out his back.

"Okay, I think she's ready to launch. You fellas wanna see?" Simon announced excitedly.

"Uh… Is this something we should be watching from _inside_ the house?" Alvin asked.

"I'm ninety-five percent sure that this will work," Simon said, "Just take a few steps back."

Theodore and Alvin stood right up against the house. Simon had the rocket set upward.

"Ready to launch in five-four-three-two-one!" Simon lit his rocket and it quickly zoomed right up into the air, however it didn't go straight up as Simon had hoped for. It instead went all which ways all over the backyard. Alvin and Theodore screamed as it zoomed past their heads. Alvin found himself hugging Charlie closely in a very protective way.

The rocket zipped up and then blasted through a high up tree limb, slicing it almost all the way, but enough to send the tree branch falling onto the roof of the house.

The rocket soon stopped and fell to the ground. The chipmunks all watched, eyes wide as the tree branch came down and hit the roof. It was still partially attached to the tree however.

"Smooth…" Theodore commented.

Charlie clapped his paws playfully.

Alvin said sarcastically, "Way to go, Bubby."

Simon looked at the dead rocket laying before him thoughtfully and said, "Hmm… That wasn't supposed to happen."

"You think!?" Alvin cried.

"Maybe I should have added a little more of that blue powder. Ah well. Live and learn," Simon shrugged while picking up the rocket.

"Ooh. You're going to be so dead when Dave finds that tree limb on the roof. And this time he can't blame me for it!" Alvin said.

"I know. But by the sounds of it, I don't think that it did much damage at all to the roof. I suggest that we all stay inside. There's nothing we can do until Dave gets someone to cut it down. It could be dangerous," Simon advised.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

That night, the boys began to think about how the next day would be the day Dave would be coming home. They weren't quite sure how Dave would react to the little surprise.

Simon read a fairytale that night to the three other chipmunks. Once again, he found it painful to read for the plot was unrealistic and too predictable.

Everyone drifted off at the end of the story.

At about 1:00am, Charlie began to cry…again.

Alvin moaned, "Simon! Go take care of Charlie!" He shoved his blue clad brother in the shoulder with his foot.

Simon shouted through his pillow, "I took care of Charlie last time! Theodore, you do it!"

Theodore's head shot up and he whined, "No! I had to clean up his latest accident. I say Alvin should do it!"

Simon propped himself up a bit and said, "I agree. Alvin, hop to it!"

"Why me!?" Alvin complained as Theodore and Simon both put their heads back down to go to sleep.

Simon's muffled voice from the pillow said, "Because it's two against one, Alvin. Go!"

Alvin let out a slight angry growl and got up and marched over to the basket on the table. There was a plus side to having a fourth brother. No more 'two against one'.

Alvin scooped up the baby and carried him around the room, patting him on the back.

"It's okay, Charlie. Alvie's here," Alvin comforted. He muttered under his breath, "And Alvie's not happy about it."

After a nice stroll around the room, Charlie finally settled down and began tugging on Alvin's ear playfully. Alvin sighed and put him back in the basket. He took Theodore's mini teddy bear and began dancing it around in front of Charlie.

_Go to sleep, go to sleep,_

_go to sleep now_, _Charlie_,

Alvin half sang to the tune of "Lullaby and Goodnight".

_Because I'm tired, and I want to go to bed,_

_and our brothers are forcing me to work_

_because they're being lazy jerks_

Despite the lyrics, Charlie fell right back to sleep after that. Alvin grunted as he lazily pulled himself to his feet and dragged himself back over to the sofa.

XXXX

At about 5:30 in the morning, Simon awoke to a slight chill. He hugged himself trying to stay warm. Alvin was hogging the blanket. Simon tried to tug the blanket back over. Alvin then felt the chill as the blanket left him and he tugged back, thus the beginning of a tug-of-war game with the blanket. The tugging had woken Theodore up.

"Man, why is it so cold in here?" Alvin complained as he tugged on the blanket. Theodore stretched. He felt the cold too.

"I don't know," Theodore yawned. Just then, Theodore's green eyes widened in horror as he looked before him. There was no lump in the blankets of the basket. There was just a moved lilac blanket.

"Where's Charlie!?" Theodore gasped. Both Alvin and Simon's ears perked up to this and they stopped tugging on the blanket. The three ran to the empty basket, eyes wide. They looked around the room. They all folded their arms trying to bear the cold.

"Seriously? Why is it so freezing in here?" Alvin cried. Suddenly, Theodore's green eyes shot out of his skull again.

"Oh no!" he cried.

"What!?" Alvin and Simon jumped.

"The window! Remember yesterday when I burned the waffles? I think I forgot to close the window! That's why it's so cold in here!" Theodore exclaimed. The chipmunks looked at the living room window that Theodore had opened the day before. Yep. The curtains were blowing and the window was wide open.

"You don't think…" Simon began.

"Oh no! Charlie must have climbed through the window!" Alvin cried. The chipmunks all threw on their hoodies and dashed out the window to the backyard.

"Charlie! Charlie!" they called. It was still pretty dark out. Nothing, but a faint not-even-morning sky. The world was colored gray and still asleep.

"Are you sure he went outside? He could be anywhere in the whole house!" Simon said.

Just then, they heard some cooing noises and a bit of high-pitched laughter. It had to be Charlie.

"Charlie!? Where are you!?" Alvin called. Their ears all twitched as they listened closely for where the sound was coming from. They scrambled across the dew-wet grass. It didn't sound like it was coming from anywhere. It almost like it was coming from _above_ them.

The three chipmunks gathered around under the tree.

"Where do you think it's coming from?" Theodore asked.

"Wait!" Simon hushed both his brothers. His ear twitched as the wind whistled quietly around them carrying the small laughter through the crisp morning air.

"Do you think…" Alvin's voice trailed off. No. It couldn't be. But it was. The sounds really _were _coming from above them. They slowly craned their necks up to see Charlie's dark brown eyes watching them from high up on the tree limb that Simon had hit with his rocket the previous day.

All three of the chipmunks' faces went pale as they saw the giggling chipmunk wave to them from what seemed like to them fifty feet off the ground!

"Charlie!" the three shouted in unison.

Alvin stretched his arms out towards the baby chipmunk. He tried coaxing, "Come down, Charlie! Come to Alvie!"

"Wow, when Jeanette said that baby chipmunks like to climb _everything_, she wasn't kidding!" Simon said.

Charlie began to climb across the fallen tree limb away from the tree.

"No! No! Wrong way, Charlie!" Alvin shouted up.

Charlie, ignoring his brother's calls pranced merrily across the tree branch and on to the roof of the house.

"Oh no!" the boys exclaimed in unison.

"The baby's on the roof!" Alvin shouted.

Before he could even think about it, Theodore began climbing up the tree himself.

"Theodore!" Alvin and Simon shouted at the same time.

Alvin murmured, "Okay. What's up with this? Why do we keep shouting things simultaneously?"

"I'm going to help Charlie!" Theodore called down. Alvin and Simon groaned as they found themselves climbing up after their little brother.

Theodore quickly scurried up the tree to the fallen branch. He carefully climbed across it to the roof. Charlie was already roaming around the other side of the roof. The tree limb shook as Theodore made his way across.

Once Theodore reached the other side he waved his arms trying to flag Charlie down. He called, "Over here! Charlie! Come to Teddy! Come to Teddy!"

Alvin scampered across the shaking tree limb with no problem. Simon cautiously crawled across the branch to join the other two. The three all called to the baby chipmunk.

"Charlie! Charlie!" they shouted. Finally, Charlie looked over in their direction.

"That's it, Charlie! Over here!"

Theodore called, "Come to Teddy!"

Alvin shouted, "Come to Alvie!" Charlie just stood there watching them.

Simon yelled, "Come to Bubby, Charlie!" This surprised both Alvin and Theodore.

"I thought you refused to refer to yourself as that," Alvin said.

"Oh, it's growing on me," Simon said. That seemed to do it. Charlie began making his way across the roof towards his brothers.

The three all embraced the little chipmunk as he ran into their arms. They let out a long, "Phew!"

"Bad, Charlie. Never do that to us again!" Simon said. Charlie frowned a guilty frown.

Theodore said with a smile, "Let's go back inside." He stepped on the branch and that's when it finally snapped. Theodore let out a squeal, and Alvin grabbed onto his green hood just in time as they watched the tree limb fall to the ground with a heavy thud.

Simon and Alvin pulled Theodore back up on the roof.

"Now how are we supposed to get down?" Theodore questioned.

"The gutter maybe?" Alvin suggested.

"I don't think I can fit down there," Theodore said.

"Right. The last thing we need is for Theodore to get stuck in the drain pipe," Simon said. The chipmunks' attention all turned to the chimney. They then looked at one another all with the same idea.

"Ho-ho-ho," Alvin said with a grin.


	9. Chapter 9

**I'm back. I've been SO stressed lately. Between my Interact meetings, theater meetings, SAT prep, and band, I can't even get on the computer! Thanks for hanging in there guys! Read and review as always! Glad you're liking it! :)**

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Chapter 9

-_Flashback Ends-_

"You went down the chimney?" Dave asked.

"Yeah. Which explains why we're covered in soot," Simon said.

"Sorry we didn't clean up, Dave. We were just all so tired. We've lost so much sleep it's not even funny," Alvin said.

Dave slouched in his chair and gasped, "Oh my goodness." He felt a whole lot better now knowing what all had happened. He felt relieved.

"Are you mad at us, Dave?" Theodore asked. Dave sat up and looked at the chipmunks a little funny. He questioned, "Why would I be mad? What I want to know is why you guys were so afraid to tell me about this baby."

Theodore answered, "Well, for not calling you about it first. And we were afraid because… we were afraid you wouldn't let us keep him."

Alvin added, "Yeah. You said right after we let the Chipettes move in with us that you weren't taking in anymore chipmunks or any other sort of rodent."

"Of course I'll let you guys keep him. He _is_ your brother after all. I mean you guys have become so attached. I can't do that to you guys," Dave said. The three chipmunks beamed at this.

"_One_ more chipmunk won't hurt anything, but I don't want you _inviting _anymore in. Understand?" Dave said.

"Yes," the chipmunks said at once.

"We're doing it again!" Alvin said at the little synchronized chorus.

Dave said, "I have one more question though. Do you guys have any idea who left us this baby?"

The chipmunks all shook their heads.

"That's still up in the air. An unsolved mystery," Simon said.

Dave wasn't so sure about this, but he shook it off. He said, "Okay, guys. Wow! After all this I almost forgot to tell you my big news! The record company accepted us and they want to record a single tomorrow."

"Really!?" Theodore gasped.

"This is fantastic!" Alvin exclaimed.

"Terrific!" Simon added.

Charlie stirred around in Theodore's lap. Everyone quieted down, but was still very excited.

"First things first. Let's get you _four_ cleaned up," Dave said.

XXXXX

After everyone's baths, the Chipmunks helped Charlie get used to Dave. It took awhile, but Charlie warmed up to Dave eventually.

"Wow. Recording tomorrow? That fast?" Simon questioned.

"Well, they said they were going to be booked for the next month so I figured, why keep you guys waiting?" Dave said as he stroked Charlie on the head with his finger.

Charlie smiled blew a little bubble with his mouth. Dave smiled down at the youngster. He said, "You know, I think Charlie is going to need a nice sweater."

"Yay!" Theodore shouted, "Now he really will be part of the family!"

"You should make it in something red! He'll be like a mini me!" Alvin exclaimed. Simon and Theodore were a little surprised that Alvin wasn't telling Dave _not_ to use red, since that would be 'stealing' his signature color.

"Sure. Just what we need is for Charlie to have _you_ as an example. We'll see," Dave said standing up, "I'll go get that old sewing kit. You boys should take a break. You need to be rested up for tomorrow."

"Yeah. That's not a bad idea," Simon said with a yawn.

For the rest of the day, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore took little catnaps every once in awhile and played with Charlie when they could. Dave got the new chipmunk fitted into a petite, orange-yellow sweater. Charlie smiled at his new apparel and cooed up at Dave, who couldn't help, but smile at the innocent, little creature. His older brothers all stood around him admiring the sweater.

Charlie popped a spit bubble on his lips. Theodore giggled. Alvin patted Charlie on the back. Simon wiped the saliva off his youngest brother's face with his sleeve.

XXXX

The boys must have gone to bed at about nine o' clock that night. And with that, they fell immediately to sleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow. Dave figured that they definitely deserved a break so he decided to take care of Charlie whenever he would wake up or cry.

XXXX

The Chipmunks sat in the back seat of Dave's car with Charlie wedged between Alvin and Simon. Dave made sure that the boys dressed up nicely for the new recording to help make a good impression. They each wore simple button downs of their favorite colors. Alvin's, of course, had a small A on the pocket that was sewn onto the left side of the chest. Charlie was dressed in his new hoodie.

Alvin suggested that Dave play one of their albums for Charlie to listen to. Theodore explained, "Hear that Charlie? That's your brothers singing. That's us!"

Charlie only smiled up at him. The three boys all grinned back.

Once the group arrived at the recording studio, the director's working there were sitting at the mixer with headphones on as another singer was performing behind the sound proof glass.

Once the singer finished, one of the men working at the mixer gave the thumbs up as the singer exited the room.

"Sounds great! We'll just make a few effects changing and it should be good," he said.

Dave approached the two directors and said, "Hello. I'm the manager of the Chipmunks."

"Hi. Well, we're all ready for you. Just have the boys head on in."

Alvin, Simon, and Theodore scampered into the recording studio. Charlie tried to follow, but Alvin stopped him.

"Sorry, Charlie, but you can't go in there. Alvie, Bubby, and Teddy are going to be working."

Charlie's lip began to quiver.

"Don't worry, Charlie. We'll be out soon," Theodore promised.

"Just wait out her with Dave," Simon said motioning towards Dave.

Charlie frowned, but crawled up Dave's hand. The Chipmunks didn't notice Charlie give them a small wave as they closed the door behind them. The two directors put their headphones back on and began to set everything up for the song. The Chipmunks warmed up and adjusted their microphones.

Dave, with Charlie sitting in his palm, roamed around the studio curiously. He examined posters and framed records of all different kinds of artists from all different decades.

"We're ready when you are, boys," the director said into the microphone outside the recording booth.

"Ready fellas?" Alvin asked his brothers with a big, toothy smile.

"Ready!" Simon and Theodore answered in unison.

Alvin snapped his fingers to start the beat. He then began:

Alvin: _Hello, let's go,_

_Everybody must know _

_There's love in my heart Like a bomb!_

Simon and Theodore:_ (Like a bomb!)_

Alvin: _It's blowing a song, _

_Inside I'm singing_

_Sunshine that you're bringing now and _

All:_ It makes me happy! _

Alvin: _It makes me happy…_

As the boys continued the song, outside the booth, Dave continued to observe the posters on the wall. He then spotted a poster of Alvin and the Chipmunks from when they were first discovered.

Dave smiled at the thought of how far they had come since then. Charlie began fidgeting anxiously in Dave's hand and started making little cooing noises as he pointed to the poster. Dave looked down at him and raised an eyebrow at the chipmunk's odd behavior.

"What are you looking at?" Dave questioned. He then looked back up at the poster. Charlie was pointing to Alvin on the poster.

Dave smiled and pointed to it too. He said sweetly, "Who's that? Do you know who that is, Charlie?"

Charlie began making more noise. He then said in small voice, "That Al-vie!" Dave's smile grew and his eyebrows raised in delight. He then quizzed, "Good job, Charlie. Who's that?" Dave pointed to Theodore on the poster.

"Mm- Teddy!" Charlie exclaimed.

"And who's that?" Dave asked pointing to Simon. He was growing more and more excited.

"That Bubby!" Charlie cried.

"Bubby?" Dave questioned looking back at the picture of Simon. Charlie nodded reassuringly.

"That's Simon," Dave explained. Charlie shook his head and said, "Uh-uh. That Bubby! See?"

Charlie pointed to the Simon singing in the recording booth with his brothers.

"Bubby!" Charlie said firmly. Dave sighed a pleasant sigh and said, "Yep. That's Bubby. You're right."

Charlie clapped and laughed. Dave couldn't stop smiling after that. He looked down at the little chipmunk happily.

Theodore: _Save the raining days for another time_

Simon: _I'm just here to say, read between the lines_

Alvin: _I'm so glad that you're mine_

All: _Cause you make me happy!_

Alvin eyed Dave and Charlie out of the corner of his eye and his smile disappeared. His expression now in a state of confusion. Dave pointed to Charlie and looked at Alvin with an almost crazed look on his face which frightened the boys a little considering that they never knew Dave to ever be _that_ happy unless there was some extremely miraculous happening going on.

The Chipmunks all looked at one another confused, but continued to sing the rest of the song.

Alvin: _You make me wanna sing:_

All: _Do-do-do-do-do-do do- do-do do do-do do-do do do-do-do do do-do-do-do-dooooo…_

"Awesome guys! We'll do a few more run-throughs and we'll be good," said the director.

"Great! Can you give us a moment though?" Alvin asked.

The three exited the booth and ran to Dave and Charlie.

"Dave! What's the matter!? Why are you so happy!?"

"Charlie said your names!" Dave exclaimed with joy.

"What!?" the three cried simultaneously.

"He said all three of our names?" Simon asked in disbelief.

"Yeah! He was pointing to the poster of you guys over there and he said your names all by himself!"

"Wait!" Alvin said stepping forward, "Whose name did he say first…?"

Dave rolled his eyes and sighed readying himself for the big, 'in-your-face', gloating dance that Alvin would perform for his brothers.

"Yours," Dave said simply.

"Ha-ha! Yes! Yes!" Alvin pointed both his index fingers at Charlie and then spun around to face his siblings, fingers still pointed and did exactly what Dave expected him to do.

"In your faces! Uh-huh! Oh yeah! Holla! He said my name first! Hah-cha!"

"And then whose?" Theodore asked politely.

"Yours," Dave told him. Theodore beamed as Alvin continued his gloat dance to himself.

"Of course. Oh well," Simon shrugged noting that his name was said last.

"But for some reason, he thinks your name is Bubby, Simon," Dave said.

"Yeah. I kind of figured," Simon said simply.

"Alright, guys! Are you ready to get back in there?" the director called.

"Coming!" the three boys exclaimed.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"Omigod! He said your names all by himself!?" Brittany exclaimed on the phone. The Sevilles were now home. Alvin was sitting on the kitchen counter talking in the speaker phone with his brothers sitting behind him listening. Simon was cradling Charlie in his lap and Theodore was sitting next to him. Neither of them could get over how big Charlie had already gotten.

"Yeah, he did," Alvin replied proudly. He heard Jeanette and Eleanor moving around in the background. Then, Eleanor's voice came in.

"Whose name did he say first?" she asked.

"Mine of course!" Alvin said with even more pride. Eleanor gasped on the other end and exclaimed, "I knew it! Hah!"

"Aw man!" Brittany said.

"Shoot!" Jeanette's voice came in.

"Pay up girls," Eleanor said.

Alvin's eyes widened and he cried into the phone, "You girls were placing bets on us!?"

Brittany's voice said, "Alvin, it's not like we were doing any real harm. We were just betting on whose name Charlie would say first. Big deal. Besides, you guys have placed bets on us before and they were really sick ones too!"

"Ay-ee…" Alvin choked out tugging at his shirt collar with embarrassment.

"Yeah, that's right," Brittany said.

"Well, we'll be seeing you boys in a few days," Jeanette said.

"Give Charlie lots of love from us!" Eleanor exclaimed.

"Later!" the Chipmunks said in unison. Alvin hung up and walked over to his three brothers.

Theodore said cheerfully, "Well guys, I guess we can say that all's well that ends well. Dave's not mad and all the questions and loose ends are tied up. Right?"

Simon said, "Uh… not exactly, Theodore. This baby business definitely isn't over. And another thing that I haven't even thought about since the night Charlie first came into our lives, how did he _get_ here?"

The boys paused for a moment in silence. Simon had a point. Just where _did_ Charlie come from? Well other than the _obvious_ answer.

"Maybe it was just fate," Theodore said. The other two looked at him strangely. He continued, "It was destiny. Charlie fell into our laps for a reason. Maybe it was just because he needed us. He mom and dad probably couldn't take care of him, but they knew we could."

"Yeah, but why us?" Alvin asked.

Theodore replied with a shrug, "We're _the_ Chipmunks. Everyone knows who we are. And who better to take care of a baby chipmunk than, well, chipmunks. Chipmunks who are known for being nice and have good lives."

Alvin still looked like he wasn't following, but he just went along with it. Charlie outstretched his little paws toward Alvin and Simon handed him over. Alvin looked down at the baby and started singing a little lullaby. Theodore joined in with some humming and then Simon began to harmonize. After a few more bars, Charlie began to try to sing along too. In a kind of cooing sort of way that weren't exactly words.

What concerned the boys a little bit was the fact that Charlie wasn't at all following along to their tune. They knew he was still just a baby, but they all recalled that they were all able to at least carry a tune by the time they were as old as he was being that chipmunks are able to develop so quickly.

Simon and Theodore stopped harmonizing and sang equally to the melody with Alvin while Charlie began cooing louder, going far from the tune they were singing. The three stopped and all looked at each other.

Simon said quietly, "Uh… guys, you don't think our little brother here is… tone deaf do you?"

"Tone deaf?" Theodore questioned, "You mean that he can't match pitch and tune very well when he hears it?"

"Right," Simon said slowly.

Alvin said, "Well, I'm sure we'll find his talent some time. But I guess it looks like Alvin and the Chipmunks are going to forever be just a trio." He paused a moment and then cried, "Aw man! And I was finally warming up to the idea of having a fourth member."

Simon and Theodore laughed while Charlie just giggle and blew a few bubbles from his lips. The little bubbles got bigger and popped leaving drool all over the A on Alvin's hoodie. Alvin cringed as he looked down making his brothers laugh harder.

Alvin let out an exasperated, "Chaarrrr-liiiieeeeee!"

* * *

**And that's the end. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Yea, it was a short chapter. **

** I know, this kind of leaves it open for a sequel since no one's sure still of how Charlie ended up at their doorstep. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to write a sequel. If I am, it's gonna be a really long time. Life is hectic and I've got so many other projects to take care of all the time. (Which is why it took me so long to put up this final chapter.)**

**Again, hope you liked it! Fave and review! :)**


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